Air Guidance Notes

Air Guidance note for in-house monitoring teams (AG8)

Version 2

Summary: This Air Guidance Note (AG8) is intended to assist in house air monitoring teams to develop a Quality Management System (QMS) modelled on ISO 17025 that should meet the Agency’s minimum requirements for in-house air monitoring.

The Environmental Protection Agency has developed this Air Guidance Note (AG8) in order to assist the small number of EPA licensed sites who are considering maintaining their in-house air monitoring team to develop a QMS and carry out monitoring after 2014.

The EPA policy statement recognises that periodic measurements of atmospheric emissions are carried out by both commercial test houses acting under contracts to IE site operators, and by in-house teams. The policy requires commercial test houses to be accredited to ISO 17025 for the periodic measurement of certain pollutants from January 2014. For in-house teams accreditation to ISO 17025 is not obligatory. Instead, any licensee proposing to monitor emissions to atmosphere from a licensed emission point for the assessment of compliance with a licence emission limit value must, by the 1st January 2014, have a recognised quality management system (QMS) in place and notify the EPA, using a standard form available from the Agency, of:

• The scope of monitoring proposed to be carried out by the licensee.
• The parameters to be monitored at each emission point.
• The methods to be used.
• The expertise of the personnel carrying out the monitoring.
• Any external analytical requirements.
• The frequency of monitoring.

This TGN provides guidance on how to develop a QMS modelled on ISO 17025 that should meet the Agency’s minimum requirements for in-house monitoring. It also provides the basis on which the EPA will audit an operator’s conformance with its policy requirements.